Ugly Betty Gets Deadly Friday Time Slot, NBC Cancels My Name is Earl

Remember the days when Wilhelmina Slater (Vanessa Williams) was Betty’s greatest adversary? Well they’re long gone now, and Betty’s most lethal antagonist/new enemy is the alphabet network that airs the show, ABC. Following the network’s foolish (and some might say, rash) decision in March to bench Ugly Betty—one of their most popular and beloved comedies—to make room for new episodes of Samanta Who? and the dead-on-arrival Cheryl Hines comedy In the Motherhood, ABC has just announced that it will be moving Betty from its current time slot (Thursday nights at 8 p.m.) to the worst possible night for any TV show: Friday night! Why, you ask? It's so ABC can schedule Flash Forward—a drama in the vein of Lost—on Thursday night. But Stephen McPherson, the President of ABC, says Betty’s move to Friday’s doesn’t mean the show will be coming to an end anytime soon. "I love the show [and] America [Ferrera] is one of our biggest stars. [But] you look at Betty's declining ratings on Thursday night and we think we have a big opportunity with Flash Forward. I'd love to see [Betty] have a great run on Friday night the way Ghost Whisperer has [for CBS],” said McPherson.

Personally, I wouldn't count on it. Thursday nights are a good night for comedies, which is precisely why ABC tested Samantha Who? and In the Motherhood (both cancelled now) out for size on that night. But Friday's are, well, not so good. In fact, the only comedy I can think of that survived on a Friday night is the CW's Reba, and that was more of a family show. Plus, the fantasy/drama Ghost Whisperer, which McPherson is comparing Betty to, has nothing in common with the colorful comedy about the ultimate underdog.

The news about Betty’s unfortunate move to Fridays comes on a day that has not been kind to Latino TV stars at all! Today it was also announced that Cupid—which stars Latinos Bobby Cannavale and Camille Guaty—has also been cancelled. And EW.com’s Michael Aussiello also reported this morning that the CW has chosen not to renew Privileged (bad news for my homegirl JoAnna Garcia). In addition, The CW has passed on the Gossip Girl prequel I’ve been telling you about for weeks, which means that the Latino Chuck Bass, Shiloh Fernandez, is going to have to give back his nickname. And finally, with the news that My Name is Earl has been cancelled over at NBC, it looks like Nadine Velasquez—who plays a stripper on the show and loves "to be naked," will have to find a new show to star on where she can, well, take off her clothes.

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